I work
as a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire and have done so since the start of the fall 1997
semester. My primary areas of interest as a
teacher-scholar include critical theory; critical studies in
television and cinema; studies in popular music and culture;
gay and queer studies; Scottish and post-WWII British literary
and cultural studies; post-WWII British and American drama and
theatre; and mystery and detective (crime) fiction.

I
have been actively involved in many organizations, causes, and
movements on the progressive left ever since I was a young
boy. This political activity has been a significant part
of my life and a major factor in shaping who I am and what I am
about.

In my scholarly pursuits I work from a Humanist Marxist
position. I conceive of Marxism as a philosophy and
politics of freedom.
Socialism,
as I see it, represents the international revolutionary movement
of self-emancipation
of the exploited working class (the vast majority of the world's
population), and Marxism represents the critical theoretical
framework that can best explain the problems and limitations of
global capitalism that not only make possible but also viable,
necessary, and urgent this eventual, ultimate process of
transformation. At the same time, I support an
independent, non-sectarian version of Marxism that rejects both
ultra-leftism and right-opportunism.

I align myself with independent socialist
organizations and movements welcoming of involvement of Marxist
and non-Marxist socialists, and famously associated with two of
my childhood heroes, Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas. I am a
Democratic Socialist,
rejecting authoritarian, statist, Stalinist and Maoist variants
which I believe have falsely claimed to be "socialist" and
"communist," and which in actual practice were neither genuinely
"socialist" nor "communist." I am a strong opponent of
fascism and totalitarianism, in all forms and guises, including
fascist and totalitarian currents at work in everyday life of
contemporary capitalist societies and cultures.

In addition, I am and have long been (for
thirty years now) openly gay. As I see it, our sexualities
are complex modes of being and relating in society, and they
affect the ways in which we engage in all other forms of social
relations, exercising a significant impact on our outlook on
life and our everyday engagement in the world. I believe
we all are in varying, shifting degrees both gay and
straight. I am proud to associate my own understanding of
gayness with a radical theorization and practice of gayness
conceived and promoted by revolutionary gay liberation in the
late 1960s and early 1970s. I am a staunch opponent of any
and all forms of discrimination, harassment, prejudice, and
abuse directed against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
people, and against homosexuality, bisexuality, and
transgenderism even more broadly conceived. I take a
positive, affirmative stance versus the beauty, value, and
necessity of a substantially liberated human sexuality in
general; I oppose sex-negative positions, whether
religious-based or otherwise. And I also continue to work
on scholarly projects in this area--from work on my PhD
dissertation onward a central scholarly focus for me.

I maintain long-term, passionate interests in
music. While an undergraduate, I was assistant station
manager, music director, and program coordinator for my college
radio station, WESU-FM, and I was also a punk/hardcore,
post-punk/new wave, and experimental new music
disc-jockey. I continue to enjoy all these kinds of music,
plus many more varieties as well. In recent
times I have been particularly strongly interested in indie
rock, indie pop, indie folk, indie folk rock, and indie
electronica from Scotland and (especially Northwest)
England. And I like a considerable range of "art rock" and
"post-rock" music too. In addition, I maintain
serious interests as well in progressive forms of (especially
"conscious") hip-hop (including queer hip-hop or "homo hop"),
multiple directions and traditions in (especially "political")
folk, as well as diverse world musics, in particular those
directly conceived as deliberate contributions to progressive
social change. I enjoy as well a considerable
range of electronica, from techno to trance to trip-hop to
leftfield and beyond. I greatly enjoy Irish and Scottish
"traditional" music, including in innovative forms, involving
multiple fusions and hybrids. I even have recently become
an enthusiastic fan of contemporary Scottish hip hop! And,
over the course of many years, while younger, I frequently
went clubbing, dancing at many gay and mixed gay-straight clubs,
in many cities in the US and beyond. My all-time favorite
rock band is Joy Division. I am working on a book
tentatively titled Ian
Curtis, the Myth and the Music: Critical Theoretical
Perspectives. Ian Curtis was frontman, lyricist,
and vocalist for pioneering Manchester, England-based post-punk
band Joy Division.

Moving to teach courses in music as cultural
studies I have found challenging yet greatly exciting: starting
in the spring of 2008 with "Critical Studies in Contemporary
Popular Music Cultures" and then continuing in the fall of 2008
with "Music, Protest, and Resistance"; again in the fall of 2009
with "Critical Studies in Contemporary Popular Music
Cultures"; next in the fall of 2011, as a senior
seminar, with "Ian Curtis and Joy Division in (Historical and
Cultural) Context"; in the fall of 2014, again as a senior
seminar, with "Ian Curtis, the Myth and the Music: Critical
Theoretical Perspectives"; and, as a 300 level Honors seminar in
the fall of 2016 as well as once again in the fall of 2017, with
"Ian Curtis and Joy Division: Critical Theoretical
Perspectives."

I am active with Eau Claire's progressive
community radio station, WHYS-LP (96.3FM). I dj (produce
and host) a weekly music show on this station, Insurgence, focusing on
progressive music of protest, struggle, resistance, rebellion,
revolt, and transformation as well as classic post-punk and new
wave along with contemporary indie rock, pop, folk, folk rock,
and electronica, especially from Scotland and England. I
love it; it is the most fun I have had on a consistent basis
since I’ve came to Eau Claire in late June of 1997. I have
dj-ed Insurgence since July of 2005. At WHYS I also served
for over three years on the station's Board of Directors as
Coordinator/Facilitator (Station President), playing a pivotal
role in creating an initial managerial structure for our
station.

In the area of film, I am especially fond of
film noir and other forms of crime film. But I also
maintain interests as well in gay and queer film, in
contemporary British and Irish film, and in politically
committed and engaged documentary, non-fiction, experimental,
and avant-garde film. I like films that have a strong,
intelligent sense of story, and of character; I like films that
deal with serious ideas in complex and sensitive ways; and I
like films that are both innovative in technique and economical
in expression. I often enough tend to prefer watching
older classic black and white films. Of late I have
devoted considerable time watching British, American--and Irish,
Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian!--television crime
series. I especially love British crime television, and I
am happy to have taught "21st Century British Television
Detective Series" three semesters in a row, from the fall of
2015 through the fall of 2016. I am beginning preliminary
work on a prospective book, tentatively titled 21st Century
British TV Detective Series: a Critical Guide. At
UWEC I served for many years as chair of the International Film
Committee plus I founded The Eau Claire Progressive Film
Festival in 2005 and served as Executive Director from the
beginning through the conclusion of the final year of the
festival in May 2012. I also co-wrote, with senior
UWEC undergraduate students, two feature-length fictional
screenplays, in 2006-2007 and in 2007-2008.

For many years in college and beyond I
concentrated in Irish Studies. I have traveled in Ireland
eight times as part of extended visits; I am, moreover, of 100%
Irish descent (although I recently discovered I am also 1/4
"Scotch-Irish" and that this 1/4 of my ethnic inheritance traces
back to Pictish ancestors). All of my Irish ancestors came
over in the aftermath of the Great Irish Famine (or "Black
47"). I am proud of my Irish heritage and have been
involved in a host of Irish related interests and activities for
most of my life.

Over the past fourteen years, I have branched
out, beyond this earlier Irish focus, to explore steadily
wide-ranging interests in Scottish history, culture, politics,
film, literature, and music as well. Scotland and Scottish
Studies have become principal passions of mine. I taught
two courses in Scottish Studies in the 2010-2011 academic year:
Scottish Cinema, in the fall of 2010, and Scottish Crime
Fiction, in the spring of 2011, and I taught Scottish Cinema
again in the fall 2012 semester. I then taught Scottish
Crime Fiction again in the spring of 2016. Eventually I
would like to teach a class again in Scottish Cinema and another
class (or classes) in Scottish Literature, from the late 18th
through the early 21st century. I have been fortunate to
visit Scotland on 22 different occasions since 2003 and to
travel widely across the country. I love spending time in
and learning about Scotland, past and present. Edinburgh
is my favorite city but I am also extremely fond of Glasgow as
well (in fact, I think, to be honest, I love Glasgow
just about equally as much as I do Edinburgh). And I
maintain highly positive associations with Aberdeen, Dundee,
Islay, Orkney, Shetland, St. Andrews, and Perth as well (not to
mention diverse areas across the Western and Central
Highlands). The book I co-edited with my University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee friend and colleague Zach
Finch, and to which I contributed 15 essays and other sections
that I wrote, Directory
of World Cinema: Scotland,
part of Intellect Publishing Company's Directory of
World Cinema series, was published in June 2015.
Zach and I are considering eventually co-editing and
contributing yet further writing of our own, as well as that
from many others, to a follow-up anthology of critical essays on
diverse topics in Scottish cinema studies, past and present. I am
proud and pleased to serve as a reader on Dr. Finch's successful
PhD dissertation defense in April 2017.

I have traveled many times and quite
extensively across Britain beyond Scotland as well (England,
Wales, and the Isle of Man). I am especially fond of
London, Brighton, and Manchester among English
cities (particularly Manchester--which likely just
exceeds Edinburgh and Glasgow as my all-time favorite city in
the world). In the summer of 2016, besides visiting
Edinburgh and London, I enjoyed the wonderful experience of
visiting Nottingham, Leicester, Cambridge, and Oxford--all for
my first time ever. I am eager to return and explore
further. It was fantastic likewise to visit and spend time
in Leeds and Sheffield for the very first time last summer of
2014. This past summer of 2017 I visited Manchester for
the seventh time, the fifth time to coincide with the Manchester
International Festival--conducted once every two years for 18
days, mid-summer, since 2007. The Manchester International
Festival is a fantastic festival, and this past summer's 2017
festival was the best ever--likely the most truly 'awesome'
experience of my entire life. I greatly enjoy traveling
about, and spending time in, large cities--and in this area of
the world I particularly like Minneapolis and Milwaukee (I may
well retire to live in one or the other of these two cities--or
move to a large urban area on the east or west coasts of the
US). I've also traveled in, visited, and toured about
Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig,
Munich, and Stuttgart. And I've been fortunate enough to
visit Hawaii on twelve separate trips as well (I am especially
fond of the Big Island and Oahu).

I am
ethnically Roman Catholic, although I left off active
involvement in the Church ironically enough shortly after the
time in which I was officially confirmed as a “soldier for
Christ” (over forty years ago). Right now, my own
religious position might best be described as agnostic and
post-theistic. At the same time, spiritually, I also am
interested in aspects of neo-paganism, especially
Celtic-affiliated, and Buddhism, especially
queer-oriented. And, after years of steadily increasingly
regular involvement, I became an official member of the
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Eau Claire (UUCEC) in May
2013. I am enthusiastic about my participation in the
Unitarian Universalist Congregation as well as about Unitarian
Universalism more broadly conceived and practiced--and I have
been happy to have helped out at the UUCEC as a worship
associate and program assistant at services as well as on the
Worship Services and Membership committees. I also was the
featured speaker and presenter at two remarkable services, one
on 'Spiritual Considerations in the Life and Work of Ian Curtis
and the Music of Joy Division' and another on 'The Wisconsin
Idea' (a mock-funeral service). I am currently striving
for ever greater 'mindfulness', in my daily life, or, in other
words, attempting to live something akin to a version of 'the
serenity prayer'.

When I was
younger, I used to run regularly, including in road races.
I don’t run regularly any more, although I still strive to keep
in good physical shape. I haven't given up on running for
good, and I may yet resume doing so. I do like to walk a
lot, at present. I am a fan of many spectator sports,
including football, basketball, and baseball--as well as soccer
[i.e., "futbol"] (in particular, European or "Association"
football). I also am interested in hurling, Gaelic
football, and Australian rules football. And I am a
long-time, passionate Green Bay Packers fan (and a team owner as
well). I am, in addition, a long-time Cincinnati
Reds and Syracuse Orange fan as well as a more recent fan of
both Manchester United and (Glasgow) Celtic. I am
excited to begin, with the fall 2017 semester, teaching 'Sports,
Politics, and Society' as the theme of my Blugold Seminar in
Critical Reading and Writing class. Bringing two
long-standing passions of mine together--critical studies and
sports--has been quite exhilarating; I may well aim soon to
teach an upper-level English class focused on critical studies
in sports, politics, and society.

I have lived a long time with chronic
illness, and invisible disability, and I mention this not only
because of its impact upon me but also because I am interested
in and supportive of other people's struggles with these kinds
of challenges. I know what it is like to struggle with
serious kinds of mental and physical health challenges,
including simultaneously, and I tend to be compassionate and
empathetic with others who do the same.

I live in Eau Claire. My partner, Andy
Swanson, also works at UWEC, as a lecturer in Mathematics.
Andy and I have been together since October 31, 1998, and we
were married in June of 2000 at the Unitarian Universalist
church in Eau Claire--as well as in New York City (legally) on
December 20, 2013. He is the love of my life--a fantastic
person, with whom I am truly amazingly fortunate to be
together. Our chocolate point Siamese cat,
Brendan, born in August of 2003, died in November of 2016, after
thirteen wonderful years with us, as part of our family. In
December of 2010 our dog, Bogart, a fawn Chinese pug, died at
the age of 14 years and 3 and 1/2 months; he was a great dog, a
beloved friend, and we will always remember him with great
fondness. We adopted a black Chinese pug puppy, Casey, on
May 22, 2011; Casey was born March 23, 2011--he has been a
wonderful addition to our family, full of energy and enthusiasm,
smart and active, agile and intelligent--a beautiful dog.
Casey is, truly, one of Andy's and my best friends. Just
this past summer o 2017, in late July, we adopted two shelter
kittens, two black domestic shorthair kittens who are sisters,
less than four months old when we adopted them: Star and
Jet. They are a great deal of fun, lively, playful,
enthusiastic, and they and Casey get along fine.

*****

Some
additional points of interest about me:

I became a full professor as of August 20,
2012, promoted from associate professor--in response to positive
recommendations from from the UWEC English Department Full
Professor Committee, UWEC English Department Chair Carmen
Manning, UWEC College of Arts and Sciences Dean Marty Wood, UWEC
Provost Patricia Kleine, and UWEC Chancellor Brian
Levin-Stankevich.

I am a member of the English Department
Critical Studies in Literatures, Cultures, and Film emphasis
area.

I served as English Department Personnel
Committee Chair through the end of the 2012-2013 academic year;
I began this position in the summer of 2011. I served as a
member of the University Academic Policies Committee since the
start of the fall 2009 semester through the end of the spring
2013 semester and returned to that position with the start of
the fall 2014 semester for another three-year term. At
that same time, starting in the fall of 2009, I began work as a
Senator representing the Department of English in our University
Senate, and I was re-elected at the end of the spring 2013
semester to do so through the end of the spring 2017
semester. Due to health challenges, I resigned before the
start of the fall 2016 semester, and also passed up an
opportunity then to become Academic Policies Committee
chair. It was, in retrospect, a wise albeit at the time
quite painfully difficult decision, as I am much better a year
later, although I've needed to take that time to come to terms
with the fact, among the health challenges I face, I 'live on an
epileptic continuum'. In other words, I have epilepsy, and
have had it since I was a young boy, although I don't experience
'grand mal' seizures.

I began contributing as a member of the
Executive Board--as College of Arts and Sciences
Representative--of United Faculty and Staff of UW-Eau Claire,
American Federation of Teachers Local 6481, in the spring 2015
semester. Since August 1, 2015 I have been serving a
two-year term as Vice-President of United Faculty
and Staff of UW-Eau Claire on August 1, 2015. I was
re-elected to another two year term, at the end of the spring
2017 semester, and will therefore continue as UFAS-UWEC Vice
President through August 1, 2019. I am also a long-time,
at-large member of The American Association of University
Professors, as well as of the AFL-CIO through Pride at Work.

I began working
at UWEC as a tenure-track assistant professor with the start of
the fall 1997 semester. I was granted tenure and promotion
to the rank of associate professor by the Wisconsin Board of
Regents, officially beginning on August 25, 2003, in response to
successive positive recommendations from the UWEC English
Department Personnel Committee, UWEC English Department Chair
Marty Wood, UWEC College of Arts and Sciences Dean Ted Wendt, UWEC
Provost Ronald Satz, and UWEC Chancellor Donald Mash. I was
also deeply honored to be awarded the 2003 UWEC Excellence in
Service Award at the opening meeting of the 2003-2004 academic
year for all university faculty and staff (on August 26, 2003);
this award recognizes activities outside of the classroom that
promote excellence in education and enhance the university's
public image. This followed me winning the Michael Lynch
Award from the Gay and Lesbian Caucus of the Modern Language of
Association of America in December of 2002 in commemoration for my
academic activist work on behalf of
gay-lesbian-bisexual-and-transgender freedom, justice, and
equality. I have been a pioneer in teaching and working on
behalf of multiple gay-lesbian-bisexual-and-transgender issues and
causes (but I never deliberately aimed to be so, as I just did
what I found right and necessary, and then, time after time,
subsequently found out that I had been pioneering when I hadn't
realized I was).

I was born in
Belvidere, Illinois on May 6, 1961 (and, interestingly enough,
given my present location, conceived in Madison, Wisconsin-the
previous summer). I lived the first year of my life in
Marengo, Illinois before moving with my parents to South Bend,
Indiana where I lived for the next seven years. I then
moved with my family to Wallingford, Connecticut where I lived
until I went off to college, and where I lived for short periods
on other occasions since. Besides living in
Illinois, Indiana, Connecticut, and Wisconsin, I have lived in
New York for nine years and in Arizona for two years.

My parents,
Marilyn Lyons Nowlan and Robert Anthony Nowlan Jr., have been
divorced since I was a child (my father remarried [to Gwendolyn,
or 'Wendy," Wright Nowlan]; my mother did not). I have two
brothers, Philip Lyons Nowlan and Edward Sean Nowlan, and a
sister, Jennifer Louise Nowlan, all younger than me, and two
nephews and two nieces (Ally, Tom, John, and Cate--all children of
my brother Ed and his ex-wife Amy). All of these latter
members of my immediate biological family currently live in
Connecticut, Massachusetts, or New York. Other members of my
immediate family include Crystal Nowlan, my brother Phil's wife;
Peter Golanski, my sister Jennifer's husband; and Christine Froio
Nowlan, my brother Ed's wife.

I taught at the college and university level
for twelve years before coming to UWEC--at Southern Connecticut
State University, Syracuse University, State University of New
York at Cortland, Onondaga Community College, Tompkins Cortland
Community College, Arizona State University, and the New School
University. I also organized and taught numerous free
university courses to the general public while living in Syracuse,
New York, and in Tempe, Arizona (I more recently continued this
kind of educational outreach through projects such as the Eau
Claire Progressive Film Festival). (I've spent the vast bulk
of my time and energy the past 33 years of my life devoted to
teaching--and I've thereby taught well over 15,000 different
students.) I have received numerous commendations and
citations for my achievements in teaching.

I received my BA in 1983 from Wesleyan
University, in Middletown, Connecticut, as well as my MA in 1985
and my PhD in 1993 from Syracuse University, in Syracuse, New
York. I graduated in 1979 from Lyman Hall High School in
Wallingford, Connecticut.

I
welcome getting to know and working closely with my students,
outside as well as inside of class. I am passionate about
teaching, and about helping my students! It is a
considerable honor, and a great privilege, to be a teacher, and
every class I teach deeply impacts who I am and what I am
about. I aimed to be a teacher ever since I was in middle
school (enjoying the rare opportunity to serve as teacher of my
Advanced Placement English class for almost half of my senior
year in high school), and working directly with students is the
ultimately most satisfying work I do. I am ready, eager,
and willing to do all I can to help my students learn if they
are able and willing to work with me as mutually respectful and
conscientiously dedicated co-partners in this process.